OUR STORY:
CHAPTER 2

West Oak Coffee Roasters opened a little over a year after our namesake coffee shop and cafe.  The first phase of Voltage Coffee Project was complete, having established a reliable avenue for serving unique coffees. 

Having successfully accomplished this task in West Oak Coffee Bar, it was on to phase two: establish a connection and begin lasting relationships with coffee producers all over the world.  We wanted to learn first hand how to be a proponent for change in our industry.  Since, we’ve learned our place lay in pressing the experimental frontiers of coffee processing while bridging the gap for more traditional drinkers to cross over into drinking specialty.

Quickly we set to work identifying and partnering with producers who were dedicated to hard work and innovation.  They push boundaries of biodiversity, business ethics, fermentation, consistency, and flavor.  Through open and honest communication, we work with our producers to bring the best of these offerings into our portfolio to share with you. 

In roasting we focus on solubility and sweetness.  These are key to pushing complex layers in the cup.  Like a good cocktail, sweets and acids must be in balance for maximum perception of flavor.  For darker roasts, we minimize acidity through roasting longer, not darker, to preserve sweetness and prevent unfavorable dry and acrid flavors. 

But our real skill lies in the art of building trust–making friends.  Because when you do business with friends, you give them your best.  If you don’t, they call you on it and you make it right.  Getting up each morning to roast West Oak Coffee means something when the people drinking it mean something to you.  So here’s to you.  And cheers to your community.  May we always drink upstream.